This invention relates to user messaging systems over a global information network, and more particularly to an accelerated electronic mail system implemented over a global information network.
There are many protocols for routing information over a global information network, such as the internet. E-mail is a widely used electronic messaging system. Despite its popularity, the technologies for e-mail are old dating back into the 1960's or 1970's. Conventional e-mail uses a standardized protocol known as UUencoding, which inflates the size of a file so as to use the ascii character set. Given the increasing volume of e-mail traffic over the internet, it is desirable to implement a messaging system which is more efficient, such as by using less bandwidth.